“About eight miles,” he answers.
A pit opens up in my stomach. “Eightmiles? What is that, a couple of hundred square miles? With terrain, that’s at least a few days of searching on foot. She doesn’t have days. Hell, I don’t know if she even has hours.”
“What else does it say about the phone?” Silas asks Kramer.
“That’s it. Just the one ping. The coverage must be too intermittent to connect.”
“I want a new update with the transmission that just came through. I want to know if it’s the same tower or a different one,” I demand, and Kramer nods. I pocket my phone. “Text me those coordinates.”
Silas grabs my shoulder, halting my advance toward the door. “What are you doing?”
“I’m going to find her. She’s at least an hour away. I need to move in that direction in case we get another hit off a cell tower.”
Silas exchanges a look with our captain. “I’m going with you. We’ll take my SUV.”
I nod. Standing around discussing isn’t going to find her any faster. I pick up the bag I packed at my house and throw it over my shoulder.
“I’m driving,” Silas says, passing me on the way out the door.
“Holy fucking shit, Sutton!” Calloway calls out. My neck whips around so fast it kinks. “Lanighan’s livestream just lit up.”
“What?”
“He’s live now,” Calloway says.
Before my next breath, I cross the room and lean over the back of his chair. The video is at an angle. Whatever is recording is on the floor. A thick layer of dust covers what appears to be concrete under a table. A white sneaker swings into view.
“There! That’s Alice’s shoe.”
As I say it, a disembodied voice comes over the speakers.
“You ruined my life.”
“I didn’t.”
“You did. You handed over information, and you were about to do it again.”A pause.“And I can’t let you do that.”
“I wouldn’t.”
Something hard hits the table, followed by the sound of choking sobs.
My brows knit as I stare at the screen. “That’s not Lanighan.”
“It’s you or her, sweetheart. One way or another, I’ll keep you quiet.”
“Me,” Alice says instantly. “Do whatever you want to me. Just let her go.”
“I was hoping you’d say that. I don’t much like children, but you? I wouldn’t mind giving that a go.”
“Fuck you.”Her voice is a terrified rasp.
She grunts as if in pain. I lean over Calloway, hand flat on his desk as if it’ll bring me closer to her.
A scuffle ensues, the metal chair scraping across the floor. Alice’s feet come fully into view, the tips of them just barely brushing the floor. My body fills with a fury so hot it feels like someone shoved a scalding fire poker down my throat.
He laughs a sick, satisfied cackle.
The livestream suddenly ends.
